Mongolia: Official awarded after jailing former president

8 August 2012. Bat Khurts, vice chairman of the Independent Agency Against Corruption (IAAC), was awarded the Sukhbaatar medal, one of the nation’s highest awards in the nation. Media reports did not specify who gave the award and for what reason. According to Mongolian law it is the President who chooses the recipients of this prestigious award. Since the award was given one day after the sentencing of Enkhbayar, it is widely speculated that the award was for the arrest and conviction of Enkhbayar. Khurts was formerly the spy chief of Mongolia. He was arrested by British authorities two years ago under an EU arrest warrant issued by Germany for alleged kidnapping and torture of a Mongolian asylum seeker. He was released shortly after by German authorities before a visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Mongolia, and was later appointed the IAAC’s vice chairman by President Tsakhia Elbegdorj.